The brutal killing of a 16-year-old girl – who was drugged, raped and tortured – has led tens of thousands of Argentineans to march in the country’s capital on Wednesday to condemn violence against women.
According to reports by Associated Press, the girl, Lucia Perez was killed in early October, after she was forced to consume cocaine and then raped by two men who have since been arrested. The prosecutor investigating the crime called the attack “an act of inhuman sexual aggression.”
The protesters, who carried banners and flags, braved the heavy rain and marched to the pink presidential palace chanting slogans. They included schoolchildren, women and children in strollers.
The protest is been carried out across Argentina and in other Latin American countries and was organized on social media by women’s groups under the slogans NiUnaMenos, meaning “Not one less” and “Black Wednesday.”
According to Casa del Encuentro – a women’s rights group and shelter – there have been a record of 275 gender-based killings of Argentine women in the past, and 40 of those reported attacks were carried out by men.
These similar marches against gender-based violence have also taken place in Mexico, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.